Sláinte Mhaith

(Ohhhh, it’s about that time again! Grab your green and your Guinness because from today till Wednesday we’ll be all “Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!” and “Michael Collins was a feckin’ SAINT, I tell you!” up in here…starting with this post from St. Pat’s Day 2009 on my other blog, Vacuity …)

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So, I’m married to an Irishman. How Irish, you ask? Well, our last name starts with a vowel, includes an apostrophe and the pronounciation is mangled almost daily. If you sat my full blooded Father in Law in a pub in County Clare, you’d take him for a local. Matter of fact, that’s where “his people” are from. (We know this because they’ve traced it back…WAYYYYY back.)

We have actual Irish friends, too – some living in Dublin and one recently moved from there to Canada. They’ve informed me that this “St. Paddy’s Day” celebration we have here is “absolute bollocks”, “total shite”, and bordering on racist.

(Granted – I had asked Greg to say “They’re always after me Lucky Charms!” just before he said this, so perhaps I was a wee bit responsible for that particular rant…ahem…)

Be that as it may…but it’s a damn good excuse to drink and have fun, which is precisely what I plan to do at a St. Paddy’s Day Parade this Saturday. Since we gave our son a first name that’s just as Irish as his last name, I sort of feel responsible to immerse him in all the fun that his heritage can offer. And, really – why not?

(I plan to do the same for my Italian side – seriously, how much fun is he going to have stomping grapes? But, I digress.)

I randomly grabbed some Irish tunes in honor of the occasion. There will be more as the week rolls on…the Irish aren’t short on musical talent!

**Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers are legend.
**The Chieftain’s Rocky Road to Dublin is considered by my hubs to be the consummate Irish song. Yep, that’s The Rolling Stones at the end…
**The Pogues & Shane McGowan can do very little wrong in my book.
**The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan’s voice gives me chills, and this live, acoustic version of Zombie? Love.
**Sinead O’Connor is a weird wench, no question…and, as a Catholic, I’m probably supposed to hate her. Meh. She kills it on this song.
**Dropkick Murphys are a little much, but in small doses I dig them.
**The Saw Doctors…dude, I love the Saw Doctors. Thanks again, Greg!
**Flogging Molly is awesome – they’re the bedrock of my housecleaning music. I dare you not to move to these.

There’s a good start to getting into the mood for the holiday. So, hoist a pint, thank the good Saint for taking care of those devilish snakes and dance a few jigs. It’s good for the soul.